This is crash for cash: a common scam where a criminal deliberately sets up an accident in order to make an insurance claim.

Where there’s blame…

Insurers will always do what they can to defend their customers, but fraudsters can make it difficult to prove who was at fault.

If you’re a victim of a fraudulent crash you could end up paying the excess on your insurance, left without the use of your car while it’s being repaired and lose your no claims discount. Not to mention the risk of you or one of your passengers being injured.

Reasons like this are why we have seen the demand for dash cams increase in recent years. They can help resolve a dispute quickly, providing valuable evidence for both insurers and the police. A quarter of UK motorists currently use a dash cam, with 72% of users believing they should be used by all drivers, according to a recent study by Aviva.

But why? Safety is a consideration, with 36% of drivers currently using one saying it makes them feel safer. The primary reason given by 48% of users is to record valuable evidence in the event of an accident.

Aviva’s Dash Cam App

We all pay for fraud

Drivers concerns aren’t unfounded. Aviva is currently investigating almost 17,000 suspicious bodily injury claims and currently declines one in 8 whiplash claims on grounds of fraud.

As well as putting the safety of good drivers at risk, the Insurance Fraud Bureau estimates that these scams cost around £340 million a year – which we all end up paying for in our motor insurance.

Aviva is working hard to change the law so that it’s harder to make a fraudulent claim. The Civil Liability Bill currently going through Parliament will, when passed, reduce the amount of compensation paid for minor injuries such as whiplash.

At last, a free dash cam

Starting at just £25 (rising to £500), dash cams have fallen in price in recent years which may also explain their growth in popularity.

But to have one typically involves wiring a new piece of hardware into your vehicle and, should you need to send the evidence to your insurer, getting the video footage off the device and to the claims department can be cumbersome.

That’s why Aviva has developed a free app – a new feature of Aviva Drive – which turns your smartphone into a dash cam.

You simply attach your phone to a cradle on your dashboard, open the app and, if it detects a collision, automatically retains the last 30 seconds of footage leading up to the impact. It doesn’t store your entire journey so as not to use up precious memory on your phone.

Unlike traditional dash cams, users can email footage straight from the app to our claims team, making it faster and easier to resolve a dispute.

It also monitors your driving and, if you drive safely, rewards you with a discount on your insurance next year. (And no, you won’t be penalised if your driving isn’t up to scratch, although you may get some helpful pointers to help you get that discount.)

We’ve tested the app extensively and have been encouraged by the feedback so far. Customers have said they like the convenience and simplicity of having a dash cam on their phone and the feeling of safety it provides.